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Most Helpful Favorable Review

18 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

My favorite book of all time

I read this book back when I was in middle school and to this day (starting graduate school soon) it still remains my favorite book of all time. Even though I am a Laissez-faire Capitalist and am not too fond of the last chapter, I am a vegetarian and someone who is goi...

I read this book back when I was in middle school and to this day (starting graduate school soon) it still remains my favorite book of all time. Even though I am a Laissez-faire Capitalist and am not too fond of the last chapter, I am a vegetarian and someone who is going into public service. I still find it interesting that Sinclair's book had to be toned down because if he had described the situation even more accurately, readers wouldn't have been able to keep down their lunches. I love how he tells the story of this immigrant family. The first chapter is a little slow, but it really helps the reader to understand how difficult it can be to blend two cultures.. and it is also symbolic because the tail end of the wedding celebration foreshadows the family's hardships that are later to come. If you have never read this book.. please do so ASAP.

posted by AggieFencer on March 27, 2010

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Most Helpful Critical Review

2 out of 19 people found this review helpful.

....

Seriously dude!! How do you expect Glimmer to like you when all you do is go on and on about how much you hate her? Great tactics man!! Seriously! That is not the way to win someone's heart, and going on about how much you love them isn't going to help either.

posted by Anonymous on February 5, 2013

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My favorite book of all time

I read this book back when I was in middle school and to this day (starting graduate school soon) it still remains my favorite book of all time. Even though I am a Laissez-faire Capitalist and am not too fond of the last chapter, I am a vegetarian and someone who is going into public service. I still find it interesting that Sinclair's book had to be toned down because if he had described the situation even more accurately, readers wouldn't have been able to keep down their lunches. I love how he tells the story of this immigrant family. The first chapter is a little slow, but it really helps the reader to understand how difficult it can be to blend two cultures.. and it is also symbolic because the tail end of the wedding celebration foreshadows the family's hardships that are later to come. If you have never read this book.. please do so ASAP.

18 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted September 19, 2003

An Account of a Lithuanian Immigrant's life

I am 16 years old and reading this for my book report. Upton Sinclair really packs a punch with his powerful writing that describes the lives of immigrants from Lithuania. Even though this is a fictional story, we learn that America isn't the go-lucky country of freedom for all. Most of these immigrants came here in search of better wages and release from their former autocratic regimes, but soon learned the harsh reality which surrounded their hope of freedom. These Lithuanian immigrants suffer from unsanitary housing, and meager wages in an horrible working environment. This extremely detailed book is a MUST read for our 'spoiled' teenagers, (eh hehm... students from beverly hills high school...) who haven't learned the true value of a dollar.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted September 9, 2008

Incredible.

Even though I'm only fourteen, this book has impacted me so much. I find this book to be amazing. I think that Sinclair is an excellent writer, with much to tell about his experiences. He portrayed Jurgis and his family of clueless, poor immigrants with spot on writing. I highly reccomend this book. Not only does it reveal the appalling labor & food conditions, it reveals the condition of regular 'city life' in Packingtown. It also reveals the kind of life that immigrants had to endure coming into a seemingly perfect life. The writing itself was so intricate, that you can't help but keep reading on. So, obviously, read this! At first, it was super confusing. After getting further into it, I wouldn't dare put it down, to let the story of Jurgis unfold. Thank you, Upton Sinclair, and Barnes & Noble!

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted November 22, 2013

SPOILER WARNING: The book chronicles the story of a young man

SPOILER WARNING: The book chronicles the story of a young man named Jurgis Rudkus, a polish immigrant who is trying to make a living at a meat packing industry in order to provide for his family. The novel itself is beautiful and horrifying, giving scrutinizing detail about the horrors of the early 1900’s and its gruesome labor laws. The family is constantly struggling to get by with each member slowly needing to get jobs in order to support their cost of living. Rudkus loves his family, but after 12 hour shifts at the factory he begins to spend his hard earned cash at the bar in order to take the sting of daily monotonous routines. The tale becomes more and more gruesome and eventually Rudkus runs away to the countryside to start his own life, only to return and find his sister has become a prostitute. This rage and anger eventually and almost ironically turns him into a supporter of communism, who fight for workers’ rights. I love the story not only because of how apparently awful labor laws were back then, but also because it was a book that inspired change, but not the way it was intended. While Upton Sinclair wrote the book for a change in how labor laws were looked at, the real issue that people were concerned with was the meat packing industry. Rudkus recalls in his work experience that meat would just fall into the sawdust and no one washed their hands when handling different types of meat. Rudkus even recalls of how rats would run across the fallen meat and this was just common circumstance. The book inspired such outrage and disbelief that Roosevelt looked into and realized the horror, and so the FDA was born because of one book. The sheer weight of a book carrying such influence that it changes the entire functioning of an industry and becomes much grander than itself I find truly inspirational. This is why I feel enlightenment is so important, a whole nation of people were ignorant to the things they would put into their stomachs until a simple book came along and revealed the horror. Sure, people may not want to hear an ugly truth, but when diseased meat is shipped out daily it can be assumed that perhaps enlightenment should prevail over ignorance.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted February 5, 2013

....

Seriously dude!! How do you expect Glimmer to like you when all you do is go on and on about how much you hate her? Great tactics man!! Seriously! That is not the way to win someone's heart, and going on about how much you love them isn't going to help either.

2 out of 19 people found this review helpful.

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KaWIlli

Posted November 11, 2012

I had always heard about the impact this book had on the food in

I had always heard about the impact this book had on the food industry and how the public viewed working conditions, but it took reading it to really understand why. Not only does it chronicle the disgusting conditions in Chicago, but it also tells a fascinating political story.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted April 11, 2012

The jungle

Wow food sanitary conditions got me but the biggest thing that is burning in my brain was the working condition these characters n real people went threw. Just made me rethink where my food is really comming from lets guess abused drugged animals caged a person named hector whom is over worked extreme low paid and in very unsanitary conditions n not just meat how many times have produce been recalled things havent change i think i was taught to look away insted of whats the real picture

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted June 28, 2008

A Fine Journalist

Thank you Upton Sinclair! Sinclair took his bold views and went against the corporate machine, exposing the ill treatment of workers during his time. Not only that, but the hazardous working conditions and the gross sanitation practices. Don't read this right after eating. Thanks to Mr. Sinclair, the Food Industry was forced to change for the health and safety of not only the workers, but for the consumers as well.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted June 21, 2013

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted September 7, 2012

pass it up

I've heard about this book for years and thought it would be a good summer read. I found it interesting and heart wrenching. It was obviously quite an eye opener at one time and sad to realize America (in part) treated its immigrants this way.
I was extremely disappointed in the ending. I would not read it again.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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emma-bear_

Posted July 22, 2012

Had To Read For School, And Felt That It Was Alright

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, is the story of Jurgis Rudkus, and his life after moving to America from Lithuania. His life, in all honesty, is quite awful. Everything that happens to him is full of tradgedy and horror. With a really slow beginnning, and an interesting middle, I was ready to give this book three stars. Then came the random ending, all about Socialism. Like, it just came out of no where. It was entirely random, and it had nothing to do with the rest of the book. So that is why it is a two. That and a lot of this book was very hard to understand. However, this wasn't the worst book that I've had to read for school. It is interesting, but not nessicarily... good.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Jessel7496

Posted December 10, 2011

Must Buy!!!

I had to read this for history class and I'm GLAD I DID! This book is so much fun to read and worth buying. Great book!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 7, 2011

Compelling.

This is the most depressing book in my opinion. Its just one sad terrible thing to the next sad terrible thing. Its so depressing and gross, its tough to finish it. Still it is a must read.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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4641322

Posted September 20, 2011

Ugh

This was a terrible book. It was too long and just nasty. Do not read if you are not a vegitarian! Had to read this in my American History class in high school.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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This book is awesome!

This book is great! Sinclair did an amazing job with this. The way he writes this book makes you feel as if you were in the stockyards. I am glad i read this book and have it a part of my library.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted February 4, 2009

This Novel Is Not For All Readers

I had to read this novel for AP U.S. History class. I, like others, understood the immense impact this novel posed on American society and legislature at the time. However, I found this book to be a very boring read; it takes a long time to read a simple chapter, and Sinclair's writing is horrid - the grammar is completely wrong, and semi colons are applied where there should be commas! The story drags on and on, from one tragedy to another, and one may dread having to turn to the next chapter or even the next page. I was assigned to read the novels "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which also had a profound effect on American society, and "A Rise to Rebellion." I enjoyed both of those novels; but as for "The Jungle": two thumbs down. Here's a word of advice to those students that have to read this novel: read about 30 pages a day and no more than that. In other words, read little by little, and plan to spend a little over a week on it. To those that wish to read it for pleasure: good luck.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted June 30, 2006

horrible

i have to read this book for us history honors and i cant get past the third page. it is veryyy hard to understand especially for a 15 year old and when they have names that take up a whole line and speak other languages.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted February 23, 2015

JUNGLECLAN

Here is my bioName: RainingstarJob: LeaderLives: All nineLooks: bark ( i did not just make a typo i ment tree bark) brown fur with small lighter patches and black paws. Bright green eyes and long whiskers.Relationship: none

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Anonymous

Posted September 23, 2014

Bluefeather

Lies limpin his grasp

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted September 23, 2014

Large black tom

Pick her up by the scruff and hauls her back to her camp slipping on her blood a little bit

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